kerlin

 *cracks knuckles* Let's see if some show recaps will start the writing juices.

DIGGLE IS THE BEST. THE VERY BEST. THE ABSOLUTE BEST. I would watch an entire show of nothing but Diggle scoffing at things. I LOFF HIM. I wish I had a Diggle to pep talk me out of my various issues and take me out for burgers and fries.

I don't like Barry all grumpy and anti-social. It's not his natural state of being. 

Cisco is terrible at secrets. Amazingly terrible. But it did get him and Caitlin to re-connect.

I am...continually surprised by how much I like Wally. He is stunningly well-adjusted for someone with his background, which might be a flaw in the writing actually, but I kind of don't care. He has really legitimate reasons to be frustrated with Barry, and he's exactly right in his reactions to King Shark.

King Shark is dumb but they used him as a placeholder more than anything else: a monster of the week for the Flash. That ending, though: sometimes this show is on so much crack and I love it. 
TRAINING MONTAGE! I didn't realize I missed the old "make Barry do crazy things while training" segments until the start of this episode. I could live without the constant angst about why he has to get faster, but still awesome. And Cisco and his drones = <3.

There's my Jessie character development! I do find it a bit tough to believe that she's her father's daughter and had no idea he had a dark side. C'mon, Jessie, don't be like that. Vanishing doesn't actually solve anything!

Cisco = <3.

I so, so, so want to believe in Barry/Iris but so much of it is reflex for me at this point. I want to believe, show! Part of it is honestly Iris is kind of a terrible journalist? I mean: her new editor is ALSO terrible, but she has such a clearly biased point of view. I get it, it's a carry-over from her time as the metahuman blogger, but if she wants to keep up that line of work, shouldn't she still be a blogger just for a news website? Or a columnist, or an op-ed writer, or SOMETHING where she doesn't have to pretend or claim 

I really liked the framing of Eliza-as-speedster. The dedicated researcher who wanted to work faster, the straight-up drug addiction storyline. It worked for me, though I wanted to spend more time on Eliza and less on Barry's emotions. I wish there'd been some kind of exploration of her motivations for being evil, though? The V9 is just...that bad? It made her go from petty larceny to destroying a bridge? Why a bridge? Where does that get fun? And then...she turned into blue lightning and...vanished? What?

The frustrated resignation in the room when they realized the Jay/Zoom connection...yeah. That about sums up my feelings on the whole thing. Damn it, show.

I love Wally more and more and more.

The back half of s2 is basically "Barry makes bad decisions," isn't it? Changing the timeline NEVER works out, Buddy. If Oliver Queen is an asshole with a heart of gold, then Barry is constantly paving his own road full of good intentions. SO MANY BAD LIFE CHOICES.

Is the time wraith a comics thing? It's pretty dumb. Super-random that it only started happening now, and kind of dumb-looking and just very Plot Device-y.

I did like Barry interacting with Eobard Thawne. It was so clear how much Barry has grown in his interactions with Thawne - he was so much more cynical and calculating. It worked for me.

I loved Hartley turning good (I always liked him) and I loved Iris getting some closure with Eddie.